Jennifer Lawrence Broke Her No-Diet Rule for 'Red Sparrow' Role

Cathleen Krueger is a freelance writer who specializes in health, wellness, celebrity, entertainment, tech and gaming.

Jennifer Lawrence revealed that she flirted with dieting for the first time for her upcoming film, “Red Sparrow.”
Photo Credit: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images Entertainment/GettyImages

Despite having one of Hollywood’s most enviable bodies, Jennifer Lawrence has never dieted for a role — and anyone who’s ever had to work through lunch without eating will understand why.

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“I can’t work on a diet,” the Oscar winner tells Vanity Fair in its March cover story. “I’m hungry. I’m standing on my feet. I need more energy.” Preach. Nevertheless, Lawrence finally went the way of Natalie Portman in “Black Swan” for her new film “Red Sparrow” (set to release March 2) by actually going on a diet.

“I’ve always wondered what it would take to get me to really diet, to really be hungry, because I’ve never done it for a movie,” the 27-year-old actress says. While she was told to lose weight for her role in “Hunger Games,” she explains that at the time a love affair with Jack in the Box prevented her from cutting calories.

So what motivated her to do it this time? It turns out that the dieting had nothing to do with looking good on camera. Instead, she used it as a way to get in touch with her character, ex-prima ballerina Dominika Egorova.

“‘Red Sparrow’ was the first time that I was really hungry and disciplined,” she says. “I can’t be in character as an ex-ballerina and not feel like an ex-ballerina.”

If there’s one thing Lawrence hates as much as dieting, it’s exercise. But, once again, that didn’t stop her from hitting the gym.

“She really trained a tremendous amount,” the film’s director, Francis Lawrence (no relation), tells Vanity Fair. “She worked with a ballet coach for three months and did a lot of exercise.”

Th director, who first worked with Lawrence on the second “Hunger Games” film and knows her all too well, arranged to shoot the ballet scenes first. And in true J-Law style, her days of diet torture didn’t last long: After she finished filming the movie’s ballet scenes, she quickly became obsessed with European street food.

“I discovered this Viennese kielbasa sausage in an uncircumcised French-bread roll with pickle relish,” she says. “I had that almost every day in Budapest — which you can see because I continue to grow in the movie. Dieting is just not in the cards for me.” An uncircumcised bread roll? Not even going to ask.

During her interview with Vanity Fair, Lawrence also discussed another first: filming a nude scene. It was an undertaking that, coming three years after intimate photos of her were leaked on the internet, terrified her. “My biggest fear was that people would say, ‘Oh, how can you complain about the hack if you’re going to get nude anyway?’” Lawrence said.

In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the burgeoning #MeToo movement, Lawrence also came forward about an incident wherein a producer told her to lose 15 pounds for a role and subjected her to a nude lineup.

The big difference here? “One is my choice,” she says. Filming the scene ultimately left her feeling empowered: “I got something back that was taken from me, and it also felt normal.”

While she may have abandoned her Jack in the Box habit, Lawrence remains a vocal advocate of body love and self-care. And we’re glad to read that a tiny affair with dieting hasn’t kept her from staying faithful to herself. Now if only we could get some of that Viennese kielbasa!